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Daily life disrupted, city lays out Day Zero plan

Article By: Leonardo Angelucci

Mon, 29 Jan 2018 9:42 AM

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On Sunday, the City of Cape Town announced the launch of the Disaster Operations Centre (DOC), in a bid to execute the City’s Day Zero plans, stating that significant disruption of daily life is to be expected from here on out.

Amid the confusion of when Day Zero will likely occur, the city has explained that it will be forced to shut off taps when dam levels reach 13.5%. An event which according to the most recent estimates based off of current consumption, will occur on the 12th of April.

However, city officials have warned that if Capetonians do not curb their water usage immediately to 50 litres a day, Day Zero could still be pushed forward.

For the time being, the city has stressed that safety and efficiency will be its main priority in designing how water collection points will work.

“If we want this Disaster Plan to be adopted with as little risk and inconvenience as possible we have to look at the local context of each water distribution point”, reads the statement from the city. “For the next two months we will be trouble-shooting each Water Collection Point so that, if Day Zero arrives, people are able to collect water as quickly and safely as possible”.

The city has emphasised that no one will be turned away from a collection point, stating also that I.D. documents will not be required by the public to collect the daily ration of water.

This has sparked further questions concerning security, but the city has reassured residents that abusive water collecting will be strictly monitored and prevented.

Furthermore, the statement reads that vulnerable citizens will not be left on the side-lines as part of the Disaster Plan encompasses getting water to remote areas and individual households where necessary.